Kelly Jamieson: Ménage à yeah ... until it's time to share the remote

Kelly Jamieson, whose Rhythm of Three (book two in the Rule of Three series), is out this week, shares the ins (fantasy) ... and outs (reality) ... of a ménage à trois.

Kelly: It is such a pleasure to be back at the HEA USA TODAY blog! Thanks so much to Joyce for inviting me to talk about ménage à trois romance.

There are many reasons I enjoy writing and reading ménage romance. One reason is the variety that's possible when three people are involved. Sometimes a threesome is a one-night thing that will never happen again. Sometimes there's a "sharing" of a partner. Sometimes all three are committed to each other. Sometimes it's two women and a man; sometimes it's two men and one woman. Another reason is the increased potential for conflict when three people bring their history and hang-ups to a relationship. And, of course, there's the sexy fantasy.

My preferred ménage à trois arrangement to read and write is three people all in love with each other and committed to the ménage relationship, two men and one woman. Realistic? Probably not. But the fantasy … hot! If you like men, why wouldn't two be better than one? Two mouths for kissing, nibbling and sucking. Four hands for caressing and rubbing and exploring. With two guys, stamina (ahem) wouldn't be an issue.

Practically speaking, I can see the advantages of having two men around. I'm not good mechanically, so when I get a flat tire, I need a man. My husband gives great shoulder massages, but when his hands get tired, having another guy there to take over would be awesome. Maybe the guys have different strengths — one's good at home repairs, the other likes to vacuum. (Hey, I said it was a fantasy!) If one's afraid of spiders, hopefully the other will kill any big arachnid that comes crawling into the house.

But there has to be a downside, right? I love my husband, but living with a guy does have its challenges. Like socks and underwear always left ON the hamper instead of IN the hamper. Like every morning, the jar of peanut butter is sitting open on the counter, surrounded by toast crumbs. Like, the television is always on in every room that he has walked through. What if all this was doubled??

With two men, you'd NEVER be in charge of the remote control. Would you ever get to watch The Voice or Dancing With the Stars, or would it always be CSI and Criminal Minds? Or football and baseball and hockey for hours on end? The *ahem* noisy bodily functions would also be multiplied times two. My guy doesn't get the concept of "clean up after yourself" — with two like him, there'd be twice as many sticky things spilled in the fridge and double the muddy footprints across the clean kitchen floor. Twice as many beers in the beer fridge and twice as many empties! Living with two guys would mean you'd go through toilet paper twice as fast, and we all know guys are physically incapable of changing a toilet paper roll.

But then again ... when one guy's not in the mood for sex, the other probably is ... which hopefully would mean double the orgasms ... maybe that would make it all worthwhile ... what do you think?

Here's the blurb for Rhythm of Three:

Former goodie-two-shoes Kassidy now has three pairs of shoes under her bed — hers, Chris's and Dag's. While she relishes the hot threesome that makes her friends jealous, she can't deny things are…complicated. Namely, whom to tell about their unconventional relationship, and whom to keep in the dark.

In the dark category? Definitely Chris's parents, which should be simple, since they live far away. Except they've sprung a surprise for their son's thirtieth birthday. They're coming for a visit. Then there's Kassidy's best friend Danielle, who's home from Europe, clueless to recent events, and flirting with Dag like crazy.

Awkward!

Family, friends, coworkers and a wedding put three lovers' best intentions to the test, making them wonder if this unique brand of love has a chance in hell of working out.

Warning: Contains three vulnerable hearts engaged in a ménage a trois, some man-on-man action, sizzling exchanges of graphic language, and rock-your-socks explicit sex. So yeah, it's dirty, but also sweet.